Scouting needs more discovery

Saturday

Feb 2, 2013 at 6:00 AM

George Barnes Barnestorming

Apparently looking to finally emerge from the Middle Ages, the Boy Scouts of America has let it be known it is considering reversing its worst policy and leave it up to individual troops to decide whether to allow participation by gay Scouts and leaders.

It makes me want to dredge up an old Scouting song, “We’re on the upward trail! We’re on the upward trail!”

The change could come as early as next week, and if it does, great. It’s an improvement, but not good enough. It’s half a loaf from an organization that years ago should have been more inclusive.

The idea that Boy Scouts of America is choosing to dump the responsibility of a policy in the laps of the local organizations rather than man up and choose to be inclusive is disheartening. Many of the organizations running troops are religious organizations that have been vocal in their support of the Scouts’ policy barring membership to gays.

When it comes to its anti-gay policy, I may be the Boy Scouts’ harshest critic. The reason is that I have always been one of the organization’s most ardent supporters. I loved the years I spent in Scouts. Some of the best people I know I met in Scouting; some of the best adults in my community were Scout leaders. Skills I learned in Scouting have stayed with me my whole life. I can still tie a bowline, although I’ve never found a use for it. I am a master campfire builder, I wield a mean hatchet and I can close my eyes and quickly imagine dozens of Scouts sitting by a roaring fire on Sheldrick’s Point on Lake Wampanoag in Gardner, singing as the sun goes down.

I loved Scouting, and even as some hideous cases of child molestation by Scout leaders unfolded, I stuck by Scouting, knowing the bulk of leaders, the people who took me hiking and camping, taught me to swim and even taught me to sail a sailboat were good people, most of whom gave up many hours of their free time to ensure a good experience for boys in their community.

Scouting has given me good memories and good friends. It has also helped me to understand that the people you least understand are the people you should most want to know. I came from a sheltered life in a town that lacked much diversity. Scouting brought me into contact with people from places large and small and from all walks of life. To exclude someone because they are seen as different is wrong. It is not the Boy Scout way.

As I grew up and left Scouting, I did what my Scout leaders wanted me to do. I began to think about issues and people and trying to understand how life should be. What I discovered disappointed me. What I discovered was that the Boy Scouts of America failed at the very thing it should have been good at: Inclusion. For all of the good Scouting offered, its leaders chose to preach inclusion on some levels while banning gays and atheists.

The ban on atheists does not get a lot of people excited. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who claims to be an atheist. They may be agnostics or worshiping some nature-focused religion, but they rarely say they are atheists.

But so what? It is a high level of arrogance to tell people that if you do not worship properly you can’t go camping with us.

The Boy Scouts of America has a lot of growing up to do, and that is saying a lot for an organization that is more than 100 years old.

It needs to get real about gays, women and even how it views religion in the context of Scouting.

When the Scouting leadership meets next week, I will be happy if they take some action to end their ban on gays. I would be thrilled if they would go further and say, “Sorry, but if you are an organization that wants to discriminate against our kids, we don’t want you sponsoring our troops.”